Nice meals to make for meat-eaters and veggiesMay 29, 2012 10:13 AMSubscribe

RecipeFilter: Sometimes I'd like to prepare a nice meal for one or two friends (usually meat-eaters) and myself (pescetarian). I need a couple recipes to keep on hand that will satisfy everybody.

I am looking for a couple of go-to recipes to show appreciation for friends. I prefer a vegetarian diet, although I will eat fish, but most of my guests are meat-and-potatoes types and tofu is a four-letter word.

Since I don’t cook much, bonus points for dishes don’t have a huge list of ingredients and can be prepared in an evening.

An example I’ve found is this Dijon-crusted salmon with some kind of steamed veggies and wild rice. It can be prepared in about 25 min, has just a handful of ingredients, is difficult to mess up, looks fancy and tastes delicious.

Would love more ideas like the above, especially satisfying vegetarian versions. General ideas or specific recipes welcome!

If it matters, I make that exact salmon recipe at least twice a month. We nix the nuts as she's got an allergy. It's quite good: I'm a big fan of red meat and she doesn't normally like seafood, but we both love it.posted by bessel functions seem unnecessarily complicated at 10:28 AM on May 29, 2012

Do mini pizzas - have people top them as they want and cook everyone's creation.posted by skittlekicks at 11:34 AM on May 29, 2012

Quinoa salad. I'm an omnivore and this salad is really satisfying. Monkey with the recipe; depending on what I've got in the house, I'll add sun-dried tomatoes, lightly steamed asparagus, diced bell pepper, black beans, etc. Leftovers keep for a few days in the fridge and make awesome hot-weather lunches.posted by workerant at 11:39 AM on May 29, 2012

Falafel is awesome. I'm a meat-eater, but falafel always manages to hit the spot. It's not hard to make if you have the equipment.posted by Philosopher Dirtbike at 11:50 AM on May 29, 2012

Second the mac & cheese. Use good cheddar in a bechamel base, and layer in sauteed mushrooms and/or spinach to fancy it up.

Mushroom risotto. Use a mixture of dried porcini and fresh mushrooms, and use the porcini soaking water instead of stock. And lots of real parmesan.posted by mr vino at 12:16 PM on May 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

I've always found Nigel Slater's Smoked Mackerel Dauphinoise a reliable crowd-pleaser for this kind of audience. It's pretty faff-free, although I think it works best if you parboil the sliced potatoes for five minutes or so first (unless you're using ultra-fresh, just dug-up potatoes, in which case don't bother).posted by HandfulOfDust at 3:30 PM on May 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

1 pound raw jumbo shrimp in the shell, 1/4 cup white wine, 1 tablespoon butter or olive oil, 1 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning. Cook in a skillet until the shrimp are opaque, about 2 minutes per side. Serve over spaghetti.posted by KRS at 3:36 PM on May 29, 2012

This is what pasta is great for, in my mind. Pasta + sauce + a couple delicious veggies + complementary meat (on the side if you have vegetarians eating too) can be perfect and infinitely variable.

We make this bowtie pasta with pesto, feta, and cherry tomatoes dish pretty often, normally with some chicken mixed in. Shrimp also works amazingly well with that pesto, and you could sub (or add!) several options in for the tomatoes to change out the flavors. All you need is a food processor and a way to cook the pasta, really. Super simple and takes us like 30 minutes to make start-to-finish.posted by This Guy at 11:12 AM on May 31, 2012

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